History

Reverend Eugene Bell is sent to Korea as a missionary by the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States.

1912

William Linton, grandfather of Stephen Linton, is appointed as a Southern Presbyterian missionary to Korea. He would serve there until 1960.

1926

Hugh Linton, son of William Linton and Charlotte Bell Linton, is born in Kunsan, Korea. He would serve as a missionary to Korea from 1953 until his death in 1984. His second son, Stephen Linton, would become the founder of the Eugene Bell Foundation.

1979

Stephen Linton first visits North Korea as an observer to the World Table Tennis Federation’s games in Pyongyang. During his visit, he serves as an unofficial advisor to the Federation. In the fall of that year, he enters a Ph.D. program at Columbia University focusing on ideology and education on the Korean peninsula.

1989

Dr. Stephen Linton is appointed as Associate Director of Columbia University’s Center for Korean Research. He organizes and leads a delegation of academics to Pyongyang and serves as a consultant to numerous organizations interested in developing contacts with North Korea.

1991

Dr. Stephen Linton serves as Billy Graham’s special consultant from 1991-95, accompanying Rev. Graham on his visits to North Korea where he meets President Kim Il Sung. Dr. Linton also helps design and deliver a mobile dental clinic to the North Korean Red Cross Hospital sponsored by Rev. Billy Graham.

1995

Dr. Stephen Linton becomes founder of the Eugene Bell Centennial Foundation (later shortened to Eugene Bell Foundation) in conjunction with the 100th year anniversary of Reverend Eugene Bell and Charlotte Witherspoon Bell’s arrival in Korea. Eugene Bell is designed to provide critical research, teaching and consulting related to North Korea.

1996

Eugene Bell begins providing food aid to North Korea. The Foundation sent approximately 10,000 tons (150 boxcar loads) of grain, thanks to generous donors in the US and South Korea.

1998

Eugene Bell starts a systematic and comprehensive program of regular support to a dozen North Korean tuberculosis hospitals and more than 60 long-term treatment facilities (care centers). The program would eventually send more than 20 mobile X-ray vehicles, diagnostic equipment and DOTS tuberculosis medication kits for more than 250,000 patients.

1999

A relationship is established with the Pyongyang Medical School to develop its laparoscopy techniques. For the first time, a team of doctors from the North Korean Red Cross Hospital train at an American hospital (Johns Hopkins).

Eugene Bell began a Diagnostic and Operating Room Assistance Program for local hospitals. The program would eventually provide assistance for more than 50 medical facilities.

2004

The Eugene Bell medical transport system sent medical supplies through a network of thirty small one-ton trucks to institutions enrolled in the Partner Package Program to insure accurate and timely delivery of donated assistance.

2007

The inauguration of the first multidrug-resistant tuberculosis program in North Korea.

2008

USAID chooses Eugene Bell as a partner to provide large generators, upgraded wiring and medical equipment to three hospitals in South Pyongyang Province, enabling the treatment of more than 51,000 North Koreans.

2009

The ‘One-to-One Program’ is developed to raise support for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients in North Korea. The program soon grows to include more than 600 patients.

2010

Five portable patient wards are built and shipped to North Korea with funding from Korean churches in Vancouver and help from Habitat for Humanity Korea.

Experts from Harvard University and Partners in Health help Eugene Bell design an effective multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment system for North Korea.

2011

Director Min Huh’s documentary film “Breathe Life,” which presents the Eugene Bell Foundation’s story and mission, wins the Best Picture Award at the Pan Pacific Film Festival.